Improvement in portable minjng-flumes



J- HOWE & N. WAITE. Portable Mining-Plume;

No. 216.325. Patented June I0, 1879.

El a

Witnesse UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JAMES HOWE AND NELSON WAITE, OF SHASTA, CALIFORNIA.

IMPROVEMENT IN PORTABLE Ml NlNG-FLUMES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 216,325, dated June 10, 1879; application filed April 17, 1879.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that we, JAMES HOWE and NELsoN WAITE, of Shasta, county of Shasta,

- hereby declare the following to be afull, clear,

and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings.

Our invention relates to an improved method of constructing portable mining-flumes, either for the purpose of working new ground or to carry off tailings; and it consists in the employment of a frame -work which is so constructed as to support the side-boards of a flume without the necessity of any bottom or the use of the bracing usually employed upon flumes. This enables us to build our flume by simply setting it upon the ground, and when working new ground it will gradually settle down, the earth caving into it, and being washed down until the flume has reached the bed-rock, side-boards being added as fast as may be necessary.

The flume may be built of any width, and without the necessity and expense of first excavating to the bed-rock, as is now the case.

Referring to the accompanying drawings for a more complete explanation of our invention, Figure l is a view of our flume. Fig. 2

and D secured to them at suitable distances above the bottom of the upright timbers, and they serve as braces to secure the upright timbers and prevent them from either closing in or spreading out at the bottom. These frame timbers we place at the ends and about midway of the fiume-sections, which are usually about twelve feet long, and a board, E, is placed upon the upper timbers, G, to serve as a walk. The timbers U and D are made long enough so that any width of fiume can be used by simply securing the vertical timbers B in the more widely-separated notches F.

The present form of constructing flumes for new ground or for tailings is to lay bottom timbers, to which the uprights are secured, and a complete floor and sides are then laid. In addition to this, the floor must be paved with blocks set on end, to prevent the flume from being worn out by-the rocks and coarse material moving through it. The uprights must also be braced, and when the flume is i turned, it will begin to excavate at the lower end of the flume, gradually working back toward the head, and as the fiume settles, it will only benecessary to add new side-boards at a comparatively small expense. As the work proceeds the banks formed by the set: tling of the flume will cave, or may be thrown in, and the work will thus proceed from the very commencement, instead of waiting, as in the former plan, until the flume has been set. Not having any bottom, it may be sunk to any point, and the expense of this portion will be saved, and the whole cost of our flume will be inside of one thousand dollars per mile, even up to the maximum width.

When employed to carry tailings it is built in the same manner, upon the surface of the ground, at any suitable grade. The tailings will run out at the end and build an embankment of the same grade as the fluine, and when it has been extended sufficiently, another length may be added to the fiume. In this mannemthe tailings may be carried to any required distance and at any grade. If desired, they may be employed to fill up low places; or, by carrying the flume along in a line, a levee or embankment may be built of any desired length.

Only one screw-bolt to each frame-timber is required to secure each plank, as the timbers B are held upright by the board E, and the two uniting cross-timbers O D keep them in place, so that no other braces are required. The use of one bolt also allows the flume to give and settle gradually at any point, and prevents that rigidity which would usually strain the flume in settling if nailed together. The upper boards are slotted at G, where the bolts enter, and this also allows settling of the flume in section, or as the necessities of the casecall for.. The whole flume is portable, and may be easily transported from one place to another by taking out the lagging screw or bolt which we use to unite the parts.

The expense is very little increased in making a wide fiume over a narrow one, which is one of the most important advantages of our construction.

As the grade decreases, the flume may be narrowed and its depth increased, so that the current will be increased and the dirt carried on the decreased grade as well as on the steeper one. 7

Having thus described our invention, what we claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-.-

1. The improvement in constructing flunres',

consisting of the Vertical posts B, with the extension cl'oss-bars OandD arranged therewith at the top, an d in term ediately between the topand bottom thereof, as shown, and so constructed as to receive the side-boards at theirlower ends without bottom boards or bracing, substantially as herein described.

2. The vertical posts B, with the cross-bars O and D, so constructed that the width of the fiume may be adjusted, in combination with the side-boards, slotted at G, with the single bolt or screw, and the top board, the whole forming a bottomless flume, substantially as shown, and for the purpose herein described.

In witness whereof we have hereunto set our hands.

JAMES HOWE. NELSON WAITE.

Witnesses:

GEO. H. STRONG, FRANK A. BROOKS. 

